All articles
44 articles, by topic.
Getting started
What Billet is made of, and the order to set it up in.
- How Billet fits togetherThe four parts of a Billet deployment, what each one does, and how a person gets from signing in to seeing their desktop.
- The order to set things up inA checklist for a new Billet deployment, from the first server to the first person connecting, with a link to each step.
- System requirementsWhat the desktop app, a host, and the portal and relay servers each need.
Desktop app
Install Billet on Windows or Mac, sign in, and connect to your desktops.
- Install the desktop app on WindowsInstall Billet for your own Windows account. It takes a minute and needs no administrator rights.
- Install the desktop app on a MacInstall Billet from its signed package. It runs on Apple silicon and Intel Macs with macOS 11 or later.
- Sign in to your organization's portalConnect the Billet app to your organization's portal. You sign in in your browser, so Billet never sees your password.
- Connect to a desktopFind a desktop in the Billet app, read its status, and open a session. Also covers links and files from the portal, and opening a desktop in a browser tab.
- During a sessionThe session window's menus and keyboard shortcuts, full screen, Ctrl+Alt+Del, typing a password from the clipboard, and sound.
- App settingsThe defaults every new session starts with, and where Billet keeps its settings and logs.
- Trusted deploymentsWhy Billet keeps a list of trusted portals, how a portal gets on it, and how to check or remove one.
- Update or uninstall the appInstall a newer version of Billet over the old one, or remove it, and what each leaves behind.
Hosts
Turn a Windows or Linux machine into a desktop people can connect to.
- Before you add a hostWhat a host is, what a Windows or Linux machine needs before Billet Host goes on it, and the two kinds of desktop the portal can broker.
- Register a desktop and create an enrollment tokenName a desktop in the console before its machine connects, then make the one-time token its installer needs.
- Install Billet Host on WindowsRun the host installer on the machine people will connect to, enroll it with your portal, and confirm it checks in.
- Set up a Linux Amazon DCV desktopTurn a Linux machine into an Amazon DCV desktop that people open through Billet, using the one command your portal serves.
- Install hosts without promptsInstall Billet Host silently from a script, a software deployment tool or a remote shell, with one enrollment token per machine.
- What the host installer changesEvery service, folder, firewall rule and policy Billet Host's installer touches, for change records and security review.
- Direct and relayed connectionsWhen a session goes straight between a person's computer and the host, when it goes through the relay, and the settings and ports that decide it.
- Assign a desktop to a personGive a desktop its owner so it appears in their Billet app, share it view-only with someone else for a few hours, or test it yourself.
- Add an Amazon DCV desktopBring a Windows or Linux machine running Amazon DCV under Billet, so people sign in through Billet and connect with the DCV client.
- Upgrade or remove a hostInstall a newer Billet Host over the old one, remove it, or move a desktop to a rebuilt machine.
Server
Run the portal and the relay on your own Linux servers.
- Before you install the serverWhat the portal and relay are, what servers, names, certificates and ports they need, and what is in the server download.
- Install the portalUnpack the server release, set up PostgreSQL, the portal's account, folders and secrets, create its database and run it as a systemd service.
- Put the portal behind a reverse proxyAn nginx site for the portal, with its TLS certificate, the paths that must reach the portal, and what changes for Cloudflare and Amazon DCV.
- Sign in to the console for the first timeCreate your own system administrator account, or use the first-run account the portal makes, and replace it.
- Create the certificate authorityCreate the portal's own certificate authority once, on the first portal node, and keep it safe. Hosts and relays are issued certificates from it.
- Activate your licenseEnter your license key and deployment ID in the console, what the License page shows, and what the portal sends when it checks in.
- Install a relayInstall the relay on a Linux server, give it a certificate for browser sessions, enroll it with the portal and run it as a service.
- Networking: the DCV gateway and the Billet relayWhat the Amazon DCV Connection Gateway and the Billet relay each carry, who connects to whom, and the ports and firewall rules each one needs.
- Create a tenant and connect single sign-onCreate the organization people belong to, connect it to your identity provider over SAML 2.0, and optionally provision people automatically with SCIM.
- Restrict who can reach the consoleMove administrator sign-in to a name of its own, and allow it only from your own networks, so the console is not there to find from the internet.
- Give tenants their own addressesLet each tenant sign in at a name of its own, such as acme.desktops.example.com, and the DNS record, certificate and proxy settings that needs.
- Check the deployment is readyThe console's Readiness list and the matching server command, which say whether every required piece of a new deployment is in place.
Troubleshooting
What a message means, and what to check first.
- The app will not sign inWhat each sign-in message in the Billet app means, and what to check first.
- A session is choppy or blurryRead Network Stats to tell a congested connection from a lossy one, and what to change for each.
- A host will not enroll or check inWhat the host installer's messages mean, and what to check when a desktop stays at Never checked in or goes Offline.
- License messagesWhat the License page says when a key will not activate or the portal cannot check in, and what to do about each.
- Collect logs for supportWhere each part of Billet writes its log, how to turn on more detail, and what to send with a support request.
Reference
Ports, file locations, installer options and terms.
- Network portsEvery port Billet uses, which direction it is opened in, and which part needs it.
- Files and foldersWhere each part of Billet keeps its program, settings, credentials and logs.
- Installer command-line optionsThe options each Windows installer takes for an unattended install.
- Keyboard shortcutsEvery keyboard shortcut in the Billet app and the session window, on Windows and Mac.
- Release files and versionsThe files in each Billet release, how versions are numbered, and how to check a download before installing it.
- GlossaryThe words the Billet app, the console and these guides use, and what each one means.